Hair-Breadth Escapes: The Adventures of Three Boys in South Africa

Adams, H. C. (Henry Cadwallader), 1817-1899Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0
Word count
556K words
Chapters
56

Tags

English Originals Children's Literature Wilderness SurvivalAdventure JourneyFriendshipComing of AgeSouth AfricaColonial EraYouth Reading

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Hair-Breadth Escapes: The Adventures of Three Boys in South Africa by H. C. AdamsAuthor: Adams, H. C. (Henry Cadwallader), 1817-1899,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jul 31, 2010

Editor's review

This is a typical Victorian adventure novel for boys. The author, Henry Cadwallader Adams, was himself a clergyman and schoolteacher who knew well how to write stories for young readers that were both exciting and respectable. The three boys' adventures in South Africa involve wilderness survival, narrow escapes, and exotic sights, with a tightly paced plot bearing the clear hallmarks of adventure literature of its era—an emphasis on courage, resourcefulness, and comradeship. As a public-domain e-book, it preserves the original text, so readers can enjoy the complete narrative while also observing how nineteenth-century British children's literature imagined Africa and shaped boy heroes. It suits use as English reading material or as supplementary reading for the history of children's literature and colonial literature. One caveat: the book's racial attitudes and descriptions of place carry obvious limitations of their time and call for a critical eye today. Overall, it is better suited to readers with a nostalgic interest in classic adventure stories or to researchers who wish to understand the lineage of this genre.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read the opening chapters first to get to know the characters and period background, then decide whether to read the whole book
  2. Keep a simple map of South Africa on hand to follow the boys' route as you read
  3. Annotate passages with racial and regional descriptions, distinguishing narrative appeal from period prejudice
  4. Read alongside other Victorian adventure novels to observe how genre conventions evolved

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56

FAQ

Is this book suitable for children to read directly? It can be read, but parents or teachers are advised to look through it first. The adventure plot appeals to young readers, but some descriptions of Africa and local people carry nineteenth-century colonial bias, so discussion is best added to help children distinguish historical context from contemporary values.
What English level does it require? It is nineteenth-century English, with long sentences, fairly formal vocabulary, and occasional old-fashioned expressions. Intermediate to advanced learners can read it with a dictionary; beginners will find it hard going and are advised to choose an annotated edition or start with a simplified version.
Is this the complete original or an abridged edition? This is a public-domain electronic text released by Project Gutenberg, prepared from the original publication. It is the complete original, with no modernization or abridgment, and therefore preserves the language and attitudes of its time.

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About the author

Adams, H. C. (Henry Cadwallader), 1817-1899 Author · British · 1817–1899

Henry Cadwallader Adams (H. C. Adams, 1817–1899) was an English clergyman, schoolteacher and writer of boys' fiction, known for school stories and historical adventure novels. He combined settings familiar to young readers with the adventurous backdrop of the colonial age, writing tightly plotted and readable narratives that balance instruction with entertainment. His representative works include Hair-Breadth Escapes: The Adventures of Three Boys in South Africa, which follows three boys on adventures in South Africa, and Perils in the Transvaal and Zululand, which places its story in the historical context of the Transvaal and Zululand and continues his interest in exotic settings and conflict. Public information on him is limited, and few biographical details are available; the library holds two of his works.